Apocalypse Now! OMFG!!!

Ok, I have been on this kick to watch all these classic movies that were controversial in their time and have reached a level of legend in cinema history.  With that said I watched Apocalypse Now…WFT!  This is a f^cked up movie, I mean these guys were CA-RA-ZEE (crazy).  I know the war in Vietnam was a mess and ruined many lives, including the men who served in-theater, but the lunacy in this movie is unbelievable.  The cinematic violence was unbelievable and the acting was phenomenal.  I personally did not enjoy the film, but I saw what was done by the actors and the film-makers and I understand why this film received so many accolades.  For the un-baptized; Apocalypse Now is an epic war drama set during the Vietnam War.  The story follows an Army Captain who is a bit co-co from doing assassination missions; he was home in America and wished the entire time he was back in the jungles of Vietnam (Crazy).  He is given another mission to find and kill a rogue Army Colonel (Marlon Brando), who has supposedly committed numerous atrocities, to include murdering 4 Vietnamese liaison officers.  But believe it or not, that is not the best part of the story.

Apocalypse Now received tons of bad press during production, one issue was the great Marlon Brando showed up on set over-weight and Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack.  BTW, Mr. Brando was paid $3.5 million for one months’ worth of shooting, which doesn’t sound like much in today’s standards, but was unbelievable for 1979.  Also during production the weather destroyed several sets and there was no ending.  In the end the film was recognized with Academy Award nominations and won 2 (Best Cinematography and Best Sound).  Apocalypse Now also received the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and 3 Golden Globes.

Anyway, the film had immediate buzz and opened well in August 1979, pulling in $322,489 in the first 5 days. In total the movie has grossed $78 Million US and $150 Million worldwide.  Many critics were blown away by the film due to the realism of the violence and how it was an intimate journey into the jungle with some dark souls.  Some said the film was intellectually empty and emotionally obtuse (I think that guy likes using the word Intellectually, it is fun to say, “Intellectually”J).  Rotten Tomatoes rated Apocalypse Now as 98% Certified Fresh, that is one of the highest I have seen.  And is #28 on the  AFI’s (American Film Institute) 100 years… 100 Movie list and #12 on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes list “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” among many others. 

Apocalypse Now deservedly is legendary, the cast, the director and the subject matter all came together and created something moviegoers can never forget.  Directed by the great Francis Ford Coppola, the cast included; Marlon Brando (Colonel Walter E. Kurtz), Martin Sheen (Captain Benjamin L. Willard), Robert Duvall (Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore), Laurence Fishburne (Tyrone “Clean” Miller), Harrison Ford (Colonel Lucas), Scott Glenn (Lt. Richard M. Colby) and Mr. Dennis Hopper to name a few.  I would like to add an honorable mention to R. Lee Ermey who played as one of the helicopter pilot during the infamous scene (Eagle Thrust 7) better known for his role in Full Metal Jacket (Gunnery Sergeant Hartman) “Private Pyle! What is your major malfunction!” 

Don’t tell me to (Be Cool), I am cool!

Wow, I really-really love watching this movie, John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Cedric “The Entertainer”, Christina Milian (yummy), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Andre 3000, Harvey Keitel and Uma Thurman (Sexy), man a really great cast.  This is a fun movie and it flows so well and keeps you entertained.  It is the sequel to “Get Shorty”, but to me much better.  But of course the critics killed the movie when it was released in March 2005.  The film, like its predecessor, was adapted from writer, Elmore Leonard’s book of the same name.

Here’s the skinny; Chili Palmer (Travolta) a former “shylock”, is tired of Hollywood and the film making business. (Shylock: A ruthless money-lender/loan shark, gangster) He helps the wife of a slain friend (Athens) with her struggling record company.  That is the main story, there are also 2 additional sub-plots; (1) The Russian Mafia is trying to kill Chili because he witnessed the execution of his friend Athens (Jams Woods).  (2) Athens’s record company owes money to a Gangster/Producer, Sin LaSalle (Cedric).

To me the movies appeal is not the story as much as the actors/character, the situations and the comedy (Vaughn/Cedric/Andre 3000), these guys have funny lines and Vaughn is hilarious as the wannabe gangster/tough guy.  Even The Rock is way out of his normal character arch playing the gay Samoan body guard of Vaughn’s character (Raji).  Vaughn’s lines throughout the movie re straight comedy, he became this kid Raji and owned it!

Another aspect I love about the movie is the great locations in and around LA (Los Angeles), Hollywood and the hills.  I lived in Cali (California) for 5 years and it was frustrating all the traffic and crazy drivers, but the vista’s and landmarks are breath-taking.  Places like the Viper Room, the Staple Center and Sunset Blvd are great locations and make for beautiful shoots.  The director, F. Gary Gray (Friday/The Italian Job), who lived in South Central Los Angeles, did an amazing job choosing these locations and picking great angels in this world-famous city.

On top of all of this great stuff, the music in the movie is awesome.  I love movies with great music (Grease, Purple Rain, Ray) not that this movie rates as high as those over-all, but the music is cool and it fits.  Y all time favorite part of this film, well it is 2 parts.  #1. When the detective (Gregory Alan Williams) walks into the Russian’s pawn shop and the guy (with 2 black eyes and a horrible toupee’) tells him to get his black @ss out, he says “What do you tell a man with 2 black eyes?  Nothing, he has already been told twice”.  (Too Funny)  #2. When the same guy (with 2 black eyes and a horrible toupee’) calls Cedric “The Entertainer’s character (Sin LaSalle) a n!gger, Sin’s reply is an awesome retort to such an ugly-ugly word.

Sin LaSalle: Have you lost your mind? I mean, how is it that you can disrespect a man’s ethnicity when you know we've influenced nearly every facet of white America... from our music to our style of dress. Not to mention your basic imitation of our sense of cool; walk, talk, dress, mannerisms... we enrich your very existence, all the while contributing to the gross national product through our achievements in corporate America. It's these conceits that comfort me when I am faced with the ignorant, cowardly, bitter and bigoted, who *have* no talent, no guts? People like you who desecrate things they don't understand when the truth is - you should say thank-you, man? and go on about your way. But apparently you are incapable of doing that! So...
[shoots his gun]
Sin LaSalle: ... and don't tell me to be cool. I *am* cool!

As an African American, Black Man, Black Dude, Brotha, I get tired of hearing the word n!gger being used for commercial profit daily in music, movies, even TV, it is beautiful to hear another (African American, Black Man, Black Dude, Brotha) give a well educated, thought provoking and poignant response, and he shoots the guy and his horrible toupee flies off his head. (Hilarious)

Hero



As I was doing research about the movie, I discovered actor, Gregory Alan Williams, rescued a Japanese-American motorist who had been pulled from his vehicle and was being beaten, during the riots in LA following the Rodney King verdict.  Gregory Alan Williams was struck several times during the violence, but was not seriously injured.  He drove the man to the hospital where emergency surgery saved his life. (Courageous)

Robert Pastorelli



Be Cool was released by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), 4 March, 2005 with a budget of $53 million and grossed $95 million world-wide (opening weekend it took in $23.5 million on 3200 screens).  The movie run time is 118 minutes. 

On a more somber note; this was Robert Pastorelli's (Joe Loop) last film.  He died from an accidental drug overdose during production, 8 March 2004. (RIP)  Awesome actor…l8tr


So Sexy

 

Oh yeah, did I mention Christina Milian, need I say more...

Bangkok Dangerous

 So the other night I watched Bangkok Dangerous with Nicolas Cage, whom I love in both the National Treasure movies.   I have seen Bangkok Dangerous before and I enjoyed it then and this last time.  Her is the deal; Cage is a hit-man who is planning to leave the business behind after a series of jobs in Bangkok.  When the movie starts he is in Prague and is in a roof-top bell tower, waiting to shoot some random victim, the camera shot is through the scope of his sniper rifle (pretty cool).  As the second hand of his watch ticks away, once the time strikes 12, at the same split second the tower-bell tolls, he shoots the victim right in the brain bucket (bong! nighty-night).  The entire time the movie is playing Cage’s character (Joe) is narrating the rules to the hit-man game. 

Joe: I was taught four rules...
One: Don't ask questions. There is no such thing as right and wrong.
Two: Don't take an interest in people outside of work. There is no such thing as trust.
Three: Erase every trace. Come anonymous and leave nothing behind.
Four: Know when to get out. Just thinking about it means it's time. Before you lose your edge, before you become a target.

Rule number three; leave nothing behind includes the unlucky local dude who has been his lackey during this particular job.  Cage ices the dude and makes it look like the guy OD’d on heroine.  Next stop is the airport and a flight to Bangkok.  Continuing his narration, Cage is setting up business as usual, as he watches a local guy hustles what looks like a group of sucks, I mean Americans.  The guy uses a razor to cut the Americans backpack and steals his wallet.  Cage approaches the dude while he is eating and hires him, poor b@stard.  As Cage’s character is narrating, you can tell he wants out of this life.  He even talks about being invisible so long the human race looks like another species.

As an actor, Nicolas Cage seems to love playing strange characters and Joe in this movie is a bit off center, but what can you expect from a hit-man.  He gets a scratch on his arm after he kills some guys in a car (the scene is cool) so he goes to an all-night pharmacy and sees a pretty Thai woman working there, immediately he is taken by her beauty and grace.  BTW she I also deaf and he is acting like a bumbling idiot instead of the cool and stead hit-man we have been seeing.  Eventually they end up on a date and everything is going great, of course this is the point when all h#ll breaks loose…

Released 5 September, 2008, Bangkok Dangerous is a remake of a Thai film of the same name (and directors – The Pang Brothers).  In the original version, the hit-man is a deaf Thai man.  Many of the same scenes and themes were used in both films.  The Pang brothers also directed The Eye which was also remade and starred the sexy Jessica Alba (yummy). 

Bangkok Dangerous has a 100 minute runtime, with a budget of $45 million, it grossed $42.5 million.  What is strange/funny (odd), the movie debuted at #1 with a weekend gross of $7 million, which is one of the lowest debuts for a # movie (Dickie Robert: Former Child Star) is the other lucky winner (loser).  The critics bashed the movie for it’s depressing ending and bloody finale, I didn’t enjoy the ending but whatever, the dude was a contract killer, they don’t go to heaven, get over it…I did.

Unthinkable

So at work a few co-workers have been telling me I have to see this movie called “Unthinkable” with Samuel L. Jackson.  After I got home from the gym last night, I drank my protein shake and popped in the DVD and took a ride on the crazy train (Ozzy).  This was an unbelievable flick to watch and it had some serious actors for what seemed to be a direct to DVD film.  Here is the rundown; an everyday Joe, ex-military dude (Michael Sheen) has converted to Islam, send a video tape to the US Government stating he has planted 3 nuclear bombs in large metropolitan areas around the US.  These bombs are due to detonate in 4 days if his demands are not met.  It sounds like a season of 24 and if I had not put the DVD in myself I would have been looking for Jack Bauer to save the day.  However, we have Carrie-Anne Moss (Matrix) as Agent Brody FBI, who works Counter-Terrorism in LA (sounds like 24 again).  She is in charge of the LA field office and this guy is on her watch list. “Oh-Snap” this guys face is plastered all over every news channel on TV and they have zero answers.  Come to find out the military has already captured the dude and calls her team in under all this secret-squirrel scat.  But it gets better, enters “H” aka Sam Jackson who is a crazy/brutal interrogator, who has zero limits and seems willing to do anything to get answers…

This is one you have to see for yourself, the plot and story are excellent in the end it challenges your beliefs.  The story delves into all aspects of American versus Islamic beliefs and ideals.  It is not preachy and didn’t seem to take sides.  It was a look to e more at our beliefs as human.  Meaning we as Americans grow up believing one set of things, as people who live in other places around the world believe in different things.  It even goes into what freedom is and what it means to different people.  Sam Jackson’s character is like the devil’s advocate and Carrie-Anne Moss is like the most classic version of American thinking.  The story is fast and the movie doesn’t slow down.  As an ex-military person, they played the military as idiots and I hate that (though we o have our fare share of Dumas’s).

If you watch this movie you see everyone is playing a stereo type of some kind and it shows the flaw in all our thinking.  The terrorist dude (Mike Sheen) grew up in some middle-east country where his Dad worked at the embassy, he married a Muslim woman and converts to Islam and now he is a damn terrorist (stereo type).  Carrie-Anne Moss is a single White Female, no kids, no husband, no boyfriend (fine as hell) and married to her job.  Went to Harvard, studied law and works for the FBI, ensuring everything is done legally and correctly, she comes off as perfect (stereo type).  Sam Jackson is a wildcard, he is married to a Bosnian woman who was raped and her family was killed, they have 2 kids and seem to live a normal life, but he is crazy as “bat-scat” and so is she…

Unthinkable was released direct to DVD, June 14, 2010, rater R for crazy violence and language (MF’n Sam Jackson).  As usual the critic beat this film up saying things that only the well educate would think is poignant.  Directed by Gregor Jordan (Australian film director), Written by Oren Moverman (The Messenger [Academy Award Nominee]) and Peter Woodward(Actor/Writer/Director [Galen, Babylon5]), 97 minute runtime.  After you watch this movie ask yourself one thing, “Does the ends, justify the means?”

Deliverance (Squeel Like A Pig)

It is funny sometimes when you hear so much about a movie that you already have an idea in your head of what the movie is, but when you watch the movie it is totally different then you imagined.  This was the case for me when I actually watched “Deliverance” the other day.  I like many o you have heard all the Deliverance jokes, the squeal like a pig jokes and so on.  But, I never sat down and watched the movie because I didn’t want to sit down and watch a movie about hillbillies running around the woods butt-#ucking city boys.  I’ll pass thank you very much, isn’t OZ on HBO…  Anyway, I was reading The New York Times list of 1000 best movies of all time and Deliverance was #15.  Also reading the tagline for the film it was more interesting then the blurb about sodomizing citizen in the woods.  So I took the plunge into the mythical “Cahulawassee River” and I was impressed.

Ok this is the skinny, 4 Atlanta businessmen decide to take an adventure weekend trip into the Georgia wilderness.  The plan is to canoe down the Cahulawassee River (Fictional river name).  This is the last chance to see this area due to impending damn being built that will flood the entire valley.  This starts out simple and turns into a trip they will never forget (squeal like a pig).

 Turns out, Deliverance is an engaging cinematic outing.  I chose not to call it an adventure because it was slow and little annoying.  The story was good and the acting was good for the time, these guys were pansies (except for Burt Reynolds).  Sorry, the cast includes; Jon Voight (Academy Awards Winner), Ronnie Cox(Beverly Hills Cop 1/2), Ned Beatty(Network) and Burt Reynolds(Boogie Nights).  These for guys are legendary in today’s Hollywood, but it turns out Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty show Deliverance as their first film roles.  I don’t know how they were received after this film was released, but, I had seen these guys in so many movies over so many decades I figured they were proven actors at the time of these roles (Who Knew).

James Dickey

Regarded as one of the best films of 1972, Deliverance is noted as a landmark film and has a place in the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.  Described as being culturally, historically and/or aesthetically significant, Deliverance has a “bad-rap” in Pop culture (squeal like a pig).

Deliverance was based on a novel of the same name, written by the late James Dickey (2 Feb 1923 - 19 Jan 1997) who was a lawyer by trade and was appointed as the 18^th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1966).  He also played the Sheriff at the end of the film.  It is noted the film follows closely to the novel with a few differences (there was no “squeal like a pig” in the novel).

A scene in the beginning that is also quite famous/memorable is the “dueling Banjo” scene.  Ronny Cox played guitar with an [inbred-hillbilly] kid (Billy Redden) who is exceptional in his banjo skills.  Writer, Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, received a gold record and a Golden Globe for Dueling Banjos.  The budget was $2 million and grossed $46 million, released by Warner Bros.

  Burt Reynolds wrote in his book “My Life” the infamous “squeal like a pig” scene was shot in one take because Ned Beatty tried to kill (Bill McKinney) after the shot was stopped, (Burt) said he ran into the shot a tackled McKinney and the director and many crew members had to stop Ned from beating the guy to death…Awesome!

High Plains Drifter

Wow! Yesterday was super busy, it comes and goes that way around here, but that’s cool.  I prefer busy to being bored.  Anyway I still had time to squeeze in a movie before I left for the gym.  The choice of the day was an American classic, a western with a supernatural twist, yes folks the selected masterpiece was Blazing Saddles (NO!) It was High Plains Drifter (and the crowd goes wild!!!).  Man, this is an awesome flick; I remember seeing it for the first time with my big sister.  I was probably 9 or 10 years old and it was awesome back then (even the TV version).

For the “un-baptized” it is a story about a small western mining town that hires a “Stranger” (Clint Eastwood) to protect them from 3 bad guys soon to be released from prison.  The movie starts with a blurry figure appearing out of seemingly nowhere, the shot is distorted from the heat rising off the desert floor.  Soon we realize it is a man on a horse riding into town (Lago) and all the town’s inhabitants skeptically watching as he proceeds to the local Saloon.  The Stranger orders a beer and a bottle as all the saloon patrons stand at the far end of the bar staring.  The 3 local tough-guys start talking scat to the stranger who tells them “I’m faster then you’ll ever live to be” and he proceeds across the street to the barber shop.  A long story short, they follow and catch a case of hot-lead fever, “bada-bing”, no more tough-guys (Sorry Tony S).  I love when a movie starts with some straight butt-kicking ala the protagonist, excellent work my-man, excellent.  The movie gets better and better from there, an excellent choice for anyone who loves a thriller/western/action.

High Plains Drifter was directed as well as stared Clint Eastwood, released 22 August, 1973 by Universal, this movie stands the test of time.  Like many Eastwood films, he has a knack for choosing great stories and brings them to the screen and captures your attention.  Even the critics loved this film; Rotten Tomatoes scored the film at 96%, much respect to Mr. Eastwood.  High Plains Drifter was Clint’s second directorial outing, “Play Misty for Me” being the first.  Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, Clint Eastwood has taken home 5 trophies.  (Best Director, nominated 4 times/2 wins, Best Actor, nominated 2 times, Best Picture, nominated 4 times, 2 wins-along with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award).  Clint Eastwood’s career started in 1955 and is so long it is unbelievable, my finger was tired from rolling the scroll button on my mouse.  Dude even has a Discography (WTF) is he the baddest dude in Hollywood or what?!    

 Finally folks, High Plains Drifter (theatrical version) is 105 minutes of action and intrigue, written by Ernest Tidyman (Shaft/The French Connection/Lady Sings the Blues) and the un-credited Dean Riesner (Rawhide [TV]/The Outer Limits [TV]).  The film grossed $15.7 Million (US), I don’t know what that would translate to in today’s box-office, but it is way too low for a film of this quality.  Who can argue with Clint Eastwood?  If you do he would either shoot you with a 44 magnum (the most powerful hand-gun in the world) or punch you in the face (ala Philo Beddoe)… {Insert Tarzan yell} L8tr

A Beautiful Mind

So yesterday was so slow and the work day seemed as if it would never end.  But I ended up watching 2 movies, neither of which blew my proverbial skirt up.  My first selection was “A Beautiful Mind” starring Russell “The Muscle” Crowe.  Generally it was ok, long as hell, but ok (135 minutes/WTF).  For those who have not taken this jaunt, it is about a genius grad student John Nash (Russell Crowe) who goes to Princeton and loses his flippin’ mind (or beautiful mind).  What   I thought was funny watching the movie all the actors playing these young grad students looked old as hell.  (Russell Crowe/Paul Bettany/Josh Lucas/Adam Goldberg/Jason Gray-Stanford/Anthony Rapp) These guys don’t have one foot in the grave by any means, but as college-aged, grad students it was a stretch.  The story was cool; Crowe discovers or figure-out some theory (theorem) and wins the coveted job they all were competing for at Wheeler Labs at MIT.  He helps out at the Pentagon and then is recruited by the DoD, via Agent William Parcher (Ed Harris).  He is doing secret-squirrel stuff, gets into a car chase/shoot out, finds a girl (Jennifer Connelly), marries a girl (Jen-Again), has a baby boy, and goes completely crackers.  Of course all of this is based on the real life person John Forbes Nash Jr, who won a Nobel Laureate in Economics or the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science 1994 (Sorry folk, conflicting data).  With all of that the guy suffered from paranoid-Schizophrenia.

This is where everything went “bat-scat” on me, turns out there was no DoD Agent Parcher or even his longtime friend and college roommate.  Both characters were hallucinations brought on by the schizophrenia.  In the movie he is conducting a lecture at some college and he sees a suspicious looking guy lurking around in the back of the lecture hall and decides to bolt from the stage mid-sentence, this is of course following the shoot-out/car chase.  He was caught ad taken to a hospital (sorry folks no spy games) and diagnosed with the paranoid-schizophrenia.  In the end he is able to fight through and win his Nobel Prize.

I discovered there are significant contradictions in the movie and the actual life of John Nash.  In the movie his hallucinations were visual and auditory; in real life they were only auditory.  Also the movie showed him taking medications following what looked like medieval torture.  Nash stated he did not take any medications.   There is a laundry list of events that conflict with Nash’s real life but, the filmmakers consistently told critics that the film was not meant to be a literal representation, which I think would have been far less interesting.

A Beautiful Mind was released 21 December, 2001, was well received by most critics, raked in $170 Million worldwide and won 4 Academy Awards [2002] (Best Picture/Best Director/Best Adapted Screenplay/ Best Supporting Actress), (was nominated for Best Lead Actor/Bes Editing/Best Makeup/Best Score).  Directed by Ron Howard (Awesome), Produced by Brian Grazer (Awesome), Wirtten by Akiva Goldsman (I, Robot/The Da Vinci Code/Cinderella Man), and Sylvia Nasar (Wrote the book A Beautiful Mind), Music by James Horner (48 Hrs/Star Trek II&III/Aliens/An American Tail/Field of Dreams and nearly 100 more) and Edited by Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill.

The budget for the project was $60 Million and received positive reviews from 78% of the critics, though some beat up Russell Crowe’s performance and also stated it was formulated to seek Oscar nominations (it worked).  I waited nearly 10 years before I watched it and was not blown away, but at the same time it was a decent little jaunt on a boring Thursday morning.  I learned a little and got paid to do it…how can you beat that.  BTW; Ron Howard is a Beast (Opie Cunningham)!!!